Weaning: Formula to kitten food ratio

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  • 29 May, 2018 at 3:47 am #868174
    Ami
    Participant

    I have two 6 week old kittens that are in the weaning process. My kids found them abandoned under a bush 3 weeks ago, dirty & super skinny. They’ve been on KMR since, and caught up super quick! They were both around 7/8oz when I found them, and now are 1.5 lbs!

    Here’s my question, I began offering a bowl of kitten kibble and a bowl of water at all times, about 1 week ago per the vet. The littlest one loves solid food. She dove right in. Her sister took a few days but now both are eating it. I’m still feeding them formula 4x a day. My question, and I can’t seem to find it online, is how do I know how much formula to give them? Following the instructions on the can for their weight seems to give me too much as they refuse to eat it all. How do I know they are getting enough calories and nutrients? They are only 6 weeks old.

    Also, the littlest is still battling diarrhea. They both had it for the first week I had them, but after some medicine from the vet (metronidazole) it cleared up for the bigger one but not the little one. I gave her a dose of kitty probiotics today, is there anything else I can do?

    29 May, 2018 at 1:23 pm #868181
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    We like to recommend goat’s milk here, since it contains probiotics for their tummies and low lactose to cause diarrhea which cow’s milk usually does in cats. Since they are now in the weaning process, you can mix some goat’s milk with wet food. This is much better for little kittens than hard kibbles anyway. Goat’s milk can be found in the refrigerated milk section in the grocery, or in the baking aisle in cans as condensed or powdered. It’s a great treat for older cats too–mine seem to like it for a special treat occasionally.

    There is no hard and fast rule on mixing ratio of food versus milk. Most kittens aren’t fully weaned until the 8 to 10 week age, so let them have what they want of each until they decide that milk is not appealing anymore. You can still feed kibble, but I would recommend the wet food first. And the diarrhea could be caused by parasites that the vet can fix by administering a dewormer. Keep an eye on the diarrhea because if they still have it after having a dewormer, they may need a fecal sample taken to rule out coccidia.

    30 May, 2018 at 8:30 pm #868211
    Ami
    Participant

    I will go get some goats milk to try out. They’ve been dewormed and the medicine we got was antibiotics that both were on for a while. It’s just the little one who has diarrhea which makes me wonder if there is an intolerance somewhere? If it were coccidia, wouldn’t both have it?

    I’m nervous to switch them to wet food since the little one still has diarrhea.

    They are on liquid kmr,would switching to powder be a possible fix?

    30 May, 2018 at 9:09 pm #868212
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    It is absolutely worth a try–switching from liquid to powder. Let us know how it works.

    2 June, 2018 at 5:34 pm #868284
    Ami
    Participant

    I took away the kitten kibble a few days ago and lo and behold, normal poops!!!

    I took them to the vet yesterday just to see, both are still gaining weight & good hydration so he said to try sensitive kibble. I got a tip that a seasoned kitten rescuer worked at a store in my city I hadn’t gone to before and she helped me so much! No idea how to upload pics, but they definitely nommed down lol

    I was feeding them Iams kitten kibble. She told me Iams wasn’t that good, it had lots of grains and byproducts that aren’t good for cats anyways, much less kittens. I feel bad I gave them the runny poops. 🙁

    She gave me a couple wet food recommendations and how to do the formula with it. I gave them their first “stew” and they loved it! Keeping fingers crossed this one is good to them! I’ll know in a few days ???

    2 June, 2018 at 10:12 pm #868289
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Great advice and yes, some cats are just so sensitive to food ingredients — even the dry kibble. Congrats on finding something that works and enjoy your babies! Thanks for letting us know the outcome.

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